FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas and Arkansas-Little Rock baseball teams last played in April, but another matchup came close to materializing before their scheduled exhibition game at 6 p.m. Friday at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Gates will open at 5 p.m. and admission is free for the exhibition.
The Trojans had LSU on the ropes in the championship game of the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional on June 2. One night after handing eventual national champion LSU its only loss of the postseason, 10-4, UALR led 5-1 in the fourth inning before the Tigers rallied to win 10-6 and advance.
Had the Trojans upset LSU again, they would have advanced to a super regional to play West Virginia, with the winner of the series set to play Arkansas at the College World Series.
“We were so close to facing them in Game 1 in Omaha,” Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. “That would have been unbelievable. … That would have been special playing a team from your state in the first round in Omaha.”
UALR’s postseason run opened new doors for the program entering its 12th season under Coach Chris Curry, an assistant for Van Horn at Arkansas from 2009-10. The Trojans recently announced plans for a new on-campus ballpark and became an attractive landing spot for players transferring away from Power Four programs over the summer.
“It was program-changing,” Curry said of the weekend in Baton Rouge. “It was life-changing for me and my staff, and the future. They announced a capital campaign for a new stadium up on campus. I spoke to a Kiwanis Club (this week) and they’re still wanting to hear our story.
“From a recruiting standpoint, we have access now to a broader recruiting audience, so to speak. We’re getting calls back from players we used to couldn’t get calls from. A lot of people saw it and it’s just changed the perception and projection of our program to being a nationally respected program.”
The Trojans have emerged as a perennial conference championship contender since moving from the Sun Belt to the Ohio Valley in 2023. They won the league’s regular-season title in 2024, then after an injury-filled start to 2025 won the OVC Tournament and punched the program’s second ticket to the NCAA Tournament. UALR went 0-2 in the 2011 tournament.
“I think he’s gotten the program in really, really good shape, obviously,” Van Horn said. “They were struggling last year and the old saying (is) if it doesn’t kill you, it makes you stronger. They fought it.”
The Trojans were 18-22 following losses of 10-0 and 4-0 at Arkansas on April 22-23 — the second and third of a 9-game losing streak and a 1-13 stretch to end the regular season.
But at the OVC Tournament in Marion, Ill., UALR got hot and went 5-0. The Trojans finished the season with a 27-34 record, but were 8-2 in their final 10 games and defeated every team at their regional.
“I think they started playing like they thought they would more during the season with who they had,” Van Horn said.
With 17 players back from last season’s roster, UALR is considered a favorite to challenge for the 2026 OVC championship.
“It’s a lot of key, kind of core guys,” Curry said.
Senior first baseman Angel Cano, the MVP of the Baton Rouge Regional, is among the notable returners.
“He was the No. 1 most important recruit last summer,” Curry said. “When he came back, it really helped with the other players.”
Other veteran returners are sophomore catcher Cade Martin, the MVP at the OVC Tournament; senior utility man Ryan Geck and senior second baseman Cooper Chaplain, both All-OVC last season; senior utility man Ty Rhoades, near the top of several career offensive categories for the program; and returning pitchers Jack Cline and Preston Davis, neither of whom are expected to throw this weekend.
Curry said the biggest returner might be seventh-year third baseman Nico Baumbach. He began his career at Northeast Texas Community College then played for the Trojans from 2023-24 and at Division II Lubbock Christian last season.
“He’s the only two-time, first-team all-conference player I’ve ever had,” Curry said. “He was at Division II last year and now he’s back with us because he got an extra year because of a waiver.”
Friday will be UALR’s final exhibition date of the fall. The Trojans split a pair of six-inning games at Ole Miss last week, falling 12-2 in the first game and winning 7-1 in the second.
“The first game we made four errors and did not play well defensively, but had a no-hitter going through four innings,” Curry said. “It was 2-2 in the fifth, if that tells you anything, because we kicked it around and then later in the game they ended up kind of opening it up against us and won decisively. In Game 2, we bounced back nicely and won that one.”
The Trojans have 23 new players on their roster, including multiple transfers from Power Four programs. They include center fielder Michael O’Brien from Mississippi State, left-handed pitchers Brigden Parker from Kansas and Nic Bronzini from Washington (and formerly of LSU), and right-hander Isaac Evaniew from Oregon.
“On the mound we’ve got some older arms who are new to us, but they’ve pitched in college baseball,” Curry said.
Curry said he is using the fall to get his players acclimated to traveling and comfortable playing in SEC environments. A comment made last week at Ole Miss by assistant coach Charles Gravett stood out to Curry about the growth of his program.
“Coach Gravett in (batting practice) kind of passed by me and he said, ‘This is the calmest I’ve ever seen our group,’ ” Curry said. “I said I think it’s two reasons. One, you’ve got a bunch of players on our team who have played at a high level. They are transfers, so they’ve seen it.
“I think the other piece is playing in the Baton Rouge Regional. If you’re in a championship game with 13,000 or 14,000 screaming LSU fans, then an October scrimmage is a little less tense environment.”